Diary Entries: The Return
by andrewjameswilliams
Summary: After the events of The Return Josh and Pete write diary entries.
1. Pete's Entry

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Diary Entries: The Return

Chapter One: Pete's Entry

Pete Costas sat down at the desk in his study room in one of the many halls of residence that were attached to the Del Oro University Campus. It was by now very late outside and he was bone tired and emotionally drained – and he had a trig test to do tomorrow.

After a moment he opened the top draw of the desk and took out the black leather bound diary that his father had given him years ago. Picking a pen out of its slot in the desk tidy he flicked open the diary and flicked forward until he found a blank page near the end of the book. _I have to remember to get another one of these_, he thought as he removed the pen top and prepared to start another diary entry.

Now then where to start. The events of today were still so momentous and incredible that he hardly knew where to begin. After a moment he sighed and put pen to paper and started writing.

Dear Diary

I don't know where to start writing about today's events. So I'll just start at the beginning. 

After all it's always the best place to go from and hope that it will all make sense at the end.

It all began this morning. I had arranged to meet Josh at the recreation centre so that we could work out together like we normally do. But Josh was late and so I had to go work out alone. It wasn't too bad – its not the first time I've worked out alone – but I couldn't do everything that I wanted – without a training partner it would be to dangerous – so I didn't.

Anyway Josh finally showed up when I was leaving the centre. He did seem very preoccupied by Laura absence. He's been sort of pining for her ever since she signed on that research ship - what was it's name again…the _Proteus_ - for a year. I know that he still loves her they way he's been pining for her is evidence enough of that. And I that Laura still loves him but so much has happened between them this last year what with Rachel and Josh's odd behaviour over the last year that I don't see them ever getting back together. But that was where things started going wrong.

First this ornamental stone dish thingy nearly flattened us; it would have if Josh hadn't pushed me out of the way. As it was the only thing that was damaged was Josh's bike. Then as I was coming back her to my room this weirdo drugged me and pulled me into a van.

Next thing I know I'm tied to a chair in an old mine somewhere with this guy with a badly scarred face and black wrap around sunglasses facing me and blabbering something about Josh being a secret agent. I didn't believe that for a minute. I mean how could Josh McGrath – an extreme sports mad but otherwise normal teenager be a secret agent.

Nevertheless he contacted Josh using a device he'd left in my room which he activated when Josh came in to take the order for the topping of the pizza we'd arranged to have. It was then that I received the first of the big shocks. Josh knew the weirdo – he called him Dread – and was apparently surprised and angry to see him alive. Then the weirdo called Josh Mr Steel and effectively blackmailed him into stealing nanoprobes – whatever they are – and nanotech research data from N'Tek.

I received another shock soon thereafter. Dread moved me around in the old mine while he spoke to Josh again. I heard him refer to Josh this time as Max Steel – I'd heard that name before, Laura had mentioned Max to me a couple of times she said he was quiet a hunky guy who she found attractive but didn't have the courage to ask out. So I asked myself how could Josh be this Max Steel fellow. Though I'd never met Max I knew from Laura's description that although his appearance was similar to Josh he was a different person.

Later Dread moved me back into the main tunnel and chained me to this huge bomb which he then set on a countdown – I really thought I was gonna die. Then he left me alone in the room with only the distant sound of dripping water and the ticking of the bomb as company. 

A short while later this screen came on and I saw Josh – yet he wasn't Josh. His hair was dark brown not blond and styled differently, his eyes were blue not brown and his facial features looked slightly different. He was also wearing some sort of form fitting blue and brown jumpsuit that was obviously some kind of uniform. But I knew somehow that it was Josh especially when he told me to hold on. A couple of secs later the screen went blank again.

Then I heard Josh calling me he told me not to keep my big mouth shut now. Ordinarily I would punch him for saying that but this time I was glad to hear his voice so I called for him to help me.

A few seconds later a chunk the far wall of the mine was knocked inwards by a tremendous force and Josh came through the hole – he was literally glowing with a weird yellow-green energy aura. I realised then that Dread had been right Josh was a superhero – though how that could be I had no idea. When I called him that Josh smiled and corrected me and said that he was a secret agent actually even as he tried to disarm the bomb. I couldn't believe it. Especially when he was unable to disarm the bomb so instead shattered the chains holding me to it. Those chains were good strong steel that should have stood up to anything this side of a laser cutter yet he broke them as if they were made of glass. That glow vanished from around him then and we ran to this old lift. 

It didn't work and again I thought we were gonna die. Then Josh did this weird thing he said 'going turbo' and touched a button on this strange minicomputer thingy on his left wrist. That weird energy glow appeared around him again and he told me to grab the lift cable. I did and he literally shattered the cable from the anchor on top of the lift with a stamp of his foot.

We almost didn't make it out. The bomb exploded as we shot up the shaft like rockets the fireball of the explosion barely a second behind us. Next thing I know we were on a desert floor with the mine behind us engulfed in flame. 

Josh was lying motionless on the sandstone I thought he was dead. But he wasn't he seamed drained like almost all of his energy was gone. That glow was gone from around him and he was getting weaker as I watched. When he spoke to me it was obvious that he was struggling to stay awake.

It was then that I received another shock. This jet fighter appeared out of nowhere and landed beside us. As soon as it landed the canopy opened and a young man wearing the same kind of blue and brown uniform as Josh climbed out and walked over. When I saw whom it was I could not believe it. It was Berto. Seeing him I couldn't help but wonder if I was the only one I knew who wasn't a secret agent. First Josh, then Berto I wondered whom else would turn out to be a secret agent. I would not have been surprised if Laura had shown up dressed in one of those uniforms at that point.

Anyway Berto plugged this portable generator thing into Josh and transferred some of that weird yellow-green energy into Josh. It immediately seemed to strengthen him; it was as if batteries were somehow being recharged. It was later that I learned that in essence that was what was happening.

Anyway we took off in this fighter – a Hawk Berto and Max (as Dread and Berto had called Josh) had called it. We went after the wacko who just tried to kill me and my best friend. I was sitting in the plane with Berto with Josh hanging onto the top with effortless ease despite the force of the planes slipstream tearing at him. It was then that Berto provided me with some answers and I got another round of shocks.

First N'Tek wasn't just a sports technology company that was just a façade to cover the fact that it was really a UN chartered agency responsible for stopping the worlds terrorists. Second that Josh and Berto were among its top agents. And third that Josh has billions of microscopic machines called max probes inside of him, and that these nanoprobes give him superhuman abilities as well as enhanced sensory perception and the ability to alter his appearance at whim. Berto explained to me that these max probes had enabled Josh to create a double identity for himself and that his alter ego was named Max Steel. It was so cool. Not only was my best friend a secret agent but a superhuman one as well. He also explained to me that Josh/Max needs energy known as T-juice or what did he call it… transphasic energy in order to survive.

Anyway we soon stopped the bad guy. Josh went turbo again leaped off the plane and landed on the bonnet of the guy's car that he flipped over and sent flying as one would flip a coin. When the car came to a stop I could barely keep from laughing as Josh told him that the nanoprobes he'd taken from N'Tek were unstable and that the research data was really the Huckleberry Fin term paper he'd previously given to Professor Guerard.

Soon after that we boarded this huge plane that appeared from nowhere. They brought me back here to the university campus and took the bad guy away in chains to N'Tek.

A short while later Josh came here – looking as he always looked – with a pizza - topped with all my favourites - in his arms and we sat and talked for awhile about the day's events. 

I promised that I would keep Josh's secret and I will. But I am still so curious about his nanotech powers like how often is it you learn that your best friend is superhuman and on top of that is a secret agent? It is so cool. His speed, his strength and the other abilities that he has are incredible - I especially like the stealth ability he told me about, I imagine that it would come in quiet handy. I wish I could do the things that he can but then again I don't think I'd like the drawback of having to be frequently blasted by beams of super concentrated energy.

Anyway that's today's events. I still find it so hard to believe. It seems like the whole world has been turned completely upside down. But at least I understand now why Josh suddenly changed last year. I hope one day he will be able to tell Laura that truth. She has the right to know but I won't tell her. It has to be Josh who does that if they ever do speak again. In the meantime I must be the luckiest guy alive – I mean it is all so cool. Yet I can never say this to anyone – secrecy is imperative and I don't know what N'Tek would do to me if I were to tell the world about them, it would certainly cost me the friendship of both Josh and Berto and that I won't sacrifice that. Not ever!

Pete put his pen down and studied the diary entry. It was a lot longer than normal and he hadn't really covered all his feelings but he'd done enough, he'd covered enough. After a moment he closed the diary and yawned. It was time to catch some Z's if he were to stand any chance in that trig test tomorrow.


	2. Josh's Entry

**Diary Entries: The Return**

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**Chapter Two: Josh's Entry**

Josh McGrath walked into the main bedroom in his beach house. What a day this had been. First he'd been in New York then he'd escaped a accident on the university campus, been ambushed by a young fan of his wanting his help and finally he'd ended up playing follow the leader with John Dread who had somehow survived the destruction of his super plane and had kidnapped Pete in order to blackmail him into giving him some max probes. Pete finding out that he was Max Steel had been inevitable after that.

Josh wasn't wearing much now just a blue towelling robe having just come out of the shower that had eased the pain from the inevitable bruises and muscle strains that he'd picked up today. They would be gone by morning – the max probes would see to that – but until then he would have to put up with the dull but annoying aches and pains just like everyone else did. He sat down at the desk near the bed and pulled out his diary – he'd kept one for years just like Pete did and picked up a pen from on the side. He opened the diary to the next free page and proceeded to right about the events of the day.

Dear Mom and Dad

What a day this has been. It all started out quiet normally – or at least as normal as things are for me these days.

I was about to go for my regular morning run when I was called into N'Tek – some members of the Mercury Brigade had hijacked a bus in New York me and Rachel had to go deal with it. Nothing beats the feeling of flying with a jetpack on your back and gliding over and between the buildings of New York. It was spectacular though Rach was her usual all business self. She does on half take the fun out of being a secret agent.

Anyway we soon stopped the bad guys - the Mercury Brigade thugs are easy to beat - but the bus breaking system was damaged when one of the brigade members accidentally lasered it during the fight and it took Rachel's best driving skills and some nanotech heroics from me to bring it to a stop just before we could crash into the river Hudson.

When we got back to headquarters Jefferson informed us that Rachel had been promoted to fill in the role vacated by the defection of Jean Mairot – I can't believe I once counted that man as a friend. Unfortunately we had no time to celebrate, as Rachel immediately had to go to Russia and stop Smiley from getting his cybernetic hands on some nuclear warheads. It didn't surprise me that Psycho was still alive – I swear he has to be part cat as he seams to have at least nine lives - what does it take to kill him he's been knocked off a shuttle into space, been in the crater of a volcano as it was about to blow its stack and covered in a genetically engineered fungus yet somehow he always comes back. Equally unfortunate is the fact that her promotion makes Rachel my new boss – real bummer she's going to be on my case 24/7 now – as if she wasn't anyway but now she's going to be worse.

Well after that I was chatting with Berto in the ops room. Berto introduced me to his new pet a robotic dog he'd built himself – why can't Berto go to a pet store like everyone else when he want's a pet – which promptly went haywire and smashed into one of the walls which promptly smashed it to bits. It was then that I realised I was supposed to meet Pete and the rec centre for a work out so I had to dash off leaving Berto to put his cyberpooch back together.

Unfortunately I got to the rec centre just as Pete was leaving having finished his work out. I fabricated the reason for my tardiness – I'm used to doing that by now, though sometimes I do wish that I could tell my friends the real reasons why I am sometimes late or don't show up at all – and arranged to meet up with him later and share a pizza like we always used to. It was at that moment that this ornamental stone pedestal nearly landed on us fortunately I heard it before it could fall off the roof of the the rec centre and pushed myself and Pete out of the way. While Pete went off somewhat rattled I examined the stone before calling campus security. They thought it was an accident – the ornamental pedestals have fallen down in the past – but they couldn't see what I could scrape marks on the base of the pedestal – it was pushed.

Berto wanted to tell Jefferson about it but I convinced him not to – I don't want to be yanked out of school. It was then that I met Joe – a ten-year-old fan of mine who wanted my help with some fundraising and coaching for the junior extreme sports team she was part of. Since I've always wanted a kid sister I agreed to help. Berto called me a pushover but then I've always had a soft spot for little kids – being a secret agent hasn't bread that out of me.

Anyway I went to Pete's study room to take the order for the kind of pizza he wanted. He wasn't there but the door was open. When I went inside he spoke to me through a portable vidcom unit – someone who knew I was Max Steel had snatched him. It turned out that that someone was John Dread – how he survived the destruction of his super plane I do not know he must have taken impossible escape lessons from Pyscho. 

Anyway he blackmailed me into getting him some max probes and the backup research data in exchange for Pete's life – he also jammed my communications with Berto and gave me just an hour to get what he wanted. I had no choice but I also saw that it was an opportunity to get Dread. His obsession with recreating my nanotech systems is becoming very predictable, and correspondingly easy to manipulate.

It took some doing – I was almost caught by Yevshenko – but I was able to remove a sample of unstable max probes from the MX lab – everytime I go in that room and see that vat of nanoprobes I remember the pain I experienced that day when Psycho shattered the vat and drenched me in nanoprobes. I got to Del Oro's hydroelectric dam just in time only to find it was merely a waypoint. After having had to make my way through a water intake pipe that Dread activated while I was inside it I found myself outside the airport where Dread promptly phoned me and told me I had a plane to catch.  It was a jumbo that was just taxing to take off.

I barely made it. I had to go turbo for the second time in five minutes in order to do so. That coupled with the extended use of my stealth ability while inside N'Tek had drained my T-juice levels I was down to thirty-percent energy reserve and I was definitely feeling the drain. 

I realised immediately that Dread was making me waste T-juice on purpose so that I would be weaker when we eventually met. It was at that point that he phoned me again and told me to jump out the plane while it was over an abandoned copper mine in the middle of the Californian desert. I did just that using a tarpaulin as a parachute – after all even I couldn't withstand a fall from that height. I may have superpowers but I'm not invincible.

The parachute tore just before I reached the ground and I landed hard. Had I been normal I am sure I would have broke my neck, as it was I was merely knocked senseless for a few seconds.

When I could think straight again I found Dread standing over me with a laser pistol pointed at my head. I stood up and forced Dread to show me Pete before I gave him the nanoprobes and disk. He did so and Pete was somewhat shocked when he saw my altered appearance – I knew then that I would soon have to tell my friend the truth about me.

It was just as Dread was leaving that he revealed that he'd left a 'gift' with Pete. When I used the vidcom unit's zoom out mode I saw that Pete was chained to a time bomb. I raced into the mine to rescue him but I soon found myself at a fork and unsure which way to go. So I called out and said something that Pete would normally try to knock my block off for saying. 

He called for help in return from the right tunnel. The tunnel collapsed under me and I found myself in a second tunnel – I could hear the bomb ticking on the other side and I could tell from the sound that it was coming towards the end of its countdown sequence. So I went turbo and broke through the wall.

The look on Pete's face when he saw me was priceless. The first words he said to me was that Dread was right and I was a superhero. This amused me and as I tried to disarm the bomb I corrected him and said that I was a secret agent. I was unable to disarm the bomb Dread had equipped it with an anti-tampering mechanism that would detonate it immediately if I tried. Had I had more time I would have been able to bypass the anti-tamper mechanism but there was barely a minute left on the clock so I simply broke Pete's chains – disengaged turbo mode and we ran to the mines old lift. My eyesight revealed that the lift mechanism no longer worked so I had to go turbo again in order to break the anchor point on the top of the lift cage. The force of the counterweight pulling on the other end pulled me and Pete up as if we weighed nothing. 

Unfortunately at that moment the bomb exploded, the concussion wave throwing us well clear of the mine as it erupted into a fireball.

I could barely move. Getting me and Pete out of the mine had used up almost all of my remaining T-juice. Fortunately for me Berto showed up in a Hawk and that moment with a new piece of kit – a portable transphasic regenerator. The look on Pete's face when he saw Berto was priceless you could tell that he was thinking was anyone else he knew a secret agent I think he was half expecting someone else like Laura to show up. Berto's regenerator worked as planned – it doesn't have the ability to do a full recharge in one go but it was enough to get my energy levels back to forty percent.

We then took off after Dread. We caught his speeding car shortly thereafter. As we neared I heard him saying to himself that nothing was sweeter than the taste of revenge so I replied that I preferred banana splits myself. The look on his scarred face when he saw me was priceless – I wish'd that I'd had a camera to take a picture, I've never seen Dread so amazed before. It's a wonder that he didn't lose control of his car.

Anyway I went turbo for the last time of the mission and leaped from the back of the Hawk to the bonnet of his car. He tried to stop me with his laser pistol but he couldn't aim very well and drive at the same time. I was easily able to send the car flying through the air to crash land upside down not far off. I walked over disengaging turbo mode as I did it. I commented to Berto that it had been a successful field test of his new regenerator. Then I bent down and looked through the torn away side panel at Dread who was hanging upside down strapped in his seat the nanoprobe test tube and disk lay on the floor under his head. It was then that I told him the truth – that I had used one of his own tactics against him and provided him with useless nanoprobes and the research data was just my term paper – which only got C by the way. After all why can't the good guys pull a double cross on the bad guys once in awhile? Especially when the leave themselves wide open for it.

When I stood back up Pete informed me that I should have told him that I had such a cool day job. In response I told him that I could not that the stakes were to high for me to reveal my secret to anyone outside of N'Tek. When he asked what his options were I told him truthfully that N'Tek could either blank his memory of the whole incident, or the secret could remain between the three of us. Pete agreed with the latter.

When I questioned Berto about how he'd found me with Dread jamming my bio link he told me that he'd merely looked for my unique transphasic energy signature. He also told me off for not telling him what was going on.  After all weren't partners supposed to look out for one another?

Anyway I then flipped Dread's car back upright and we wrestled him out and put him in a pair of stun cuffs. Those things are not nice if you try to escape them, I should know Berto used me as guinea pig for the things during the testing phase. Berto called in Behemoth, which was flying on autopilot, and we took our prisoner and Pete onboard. Now Pete – who normally hates flying though he loves plane watching – was amazed by huge transport plane – just like I was when Rachel and Chuck first showed it to me.

Anyway we dropped Pete off outside the university and took Dread to N'Tek. Jefferson was ecstatic when we frog-marched our prisoner into his office. Jake and Sophia took Dread to a holding cell while Jeff called in a helicopter to take Dread to maximum security. While this was going on I went into the main transphasic regenerator and Berto recharged me. After that there was a longer than normal debriefing but me and Berto had prepared for that and were able to keep Pete's participation in Dread's capture a secret.

It was later that I saw Pete again. I went to his study room – carrying a pizza covered with his favourite toppings. As we ate we talked a lot about the days events. Now that Pete knows that I'm Max Steel he wants to know everything about my abilities. I don't mind his curiosity if our positions were reversed I would pester him with questions as well. I just have to make clear to him that I will not use my abilities while outside Max mode though I am fully capable of doing so.

It will be good however to have Pete to confide in. I know that I can talk to Jeff, Berto, Chuck and even Rachel anytime I want but there all N'Tek and I've needed someone with an outsiders perspective to talk to. Pete fits the bill perfectly. I am glad that he knows now. 

I just wish that I could one day reveal the truth to Laura. Then I might finally be able to get her back.

Josh put his pen down and sat back a moment. As normal after he'd been writing about a day in his double life his eyes wandered over to the photograph of his parents that he kept beside his bed. He often wondered what Jim and Molly McGrath would have thought about his career choice if they'd lived. His father especially – since he'd been an agent himself. _Would he be happy that I've followed him, Josh thought, __that I'm a secret agent to. Would he have supported me when I asked to join N'Tek? Or would he have been against it like dad was. God how I miss them._

Then his eyes drifted over to another photo that he hadn't bothered to put away. It was a photo of him and Laura taken before their relationship had taken a turn for the worst. He still loved her, and he knew she still loved him. But the trust was gone. Laura had misinterpreted his relationship with Rachel and he was unable to tell her the truth about it or why Rachel had kissed him that one time. Laura didn't trust him anymore. And that hurt him far more than any thing else could. _God I wish I could tell her, he thought, __she would understand then. At least I think she would. And maybe then we could be happy again. Or would she reject me, think of me as a superpowered freak. I couldn't handle it if she rejected me. I just couldn't. Feeling tears starting to come to his eyes Josh looked away from the photo and closed his diary before putting it away._

Then he got up, turned off the lights – he didn't really need them to see in the dark. His nanotech-enhanced eyes could penetrate the night easily, he could see as well at night as he could in the day but as was normal he couldn't see colours just shapes and shades of light and dark – just like normal people did when their eyes were adapted for night time seeing. He just saw things much more clearly. Normal people saw them as blurry images he saw them as razor sharp images like he saw everything.

Moving over to the bed he shrugged off his towelling robe and clambered into bed. Within seconds he was fast asleep and dreaming of Laura and the happy times he had once shared with her and hoped to one-day share again.

The End


End file.
